


Durable

by sodaschemes



Series: The Family Tree [2]
Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Angst, Broken Bones, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, FebuWhump2021, Human Experimentation, Kidnapping, Mad Science, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Torture, Triplet Sense, Twin Sense, Whump
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-17 14:08:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29226738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sodaschemes/pseuds/sodaschemes
Summary: The triplets get kidnapped by evil scientists. It's about as bad as it sounds.
Relationships: Dewey Duck & Huey Duck & Louie Duck
Series: The Family Tree [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2143473
Comments: 9
Kudos: 29





	Durable

**Author's Note:**

> Trigger warnings will be updated as needed. Heed the warnings.

There were three cells.

Three glass cages, all spaced out evenly. But only one was in use. The triplets had been shoved in there by some faceless people in lab coats hours ago.

For a long time, nothing happened. The triplets were left alone, and while that should have been a comfort, it only served to put them on edge. They had no idea what these people wanted with them.

  
They didn’t like the look of the lab coats.

A door opened, and a few of the people filed in, their focus primarily on clipboards and tablets that they were holding.

As they approached their cage, Huey put himself in front of his brothers definitively. If they wanted to get to them, they’d have to go through  _ him _ first. And he would  _ not _ let them get to Dewey or Louie.

But they didn’t actually  _ do _ anything. They stood at various points, all a few feet from the cage, just  _ looking _ at them. Looking at them and writing things on their tablets and clipboards. They weren’t even  _ trying _ to get closer.

Huey clenched and unclenched his fists, trying to get rid of the gross sensation of vulnerability that was quickly descending upon him. They were so  _ exposed _ like this. It was creepy.

Occasionally the people would change position slightly, moving around the cage and observing the boys all the while. What were they  _ doing _ ? 

It dragged on for a  _ while _ . The room wasn’t silent, per se, but the lack of noise was still driving him mad. On occasion, the people would talk to each other, but it was always so quiet that they couldn’t hear them through the glass.

They were being observed like a 4th grade science project, and Huey didn’t like it.

Just as these thoughts surfaced, something  _ finally  _ changed.

A few of the people set aside their things, and then, with the press of a few buttons, the door to their cell  _ opened _ .

Dewey took a tiny step forward, but Huey put his arm in front of him, effectively stopping him from continuing.

Dewey didn’t argue.

The three of them watched warily as the people approached the cage swiftly.

The thing was big enough that these obviously-adults could step in no problem, even if it was a little cramped. But they didn’t stay for long. 

They grabbed Louie, ignoring his startled yelp, and began to drag him out.

“Wait, stop!” Huey demanded, trying to free his brother from the people’s grip. “Where are you taking him?”

They just bat him away like he was an insignificant fly. Huey was right back at Louie’s side in an instant, clawing at them. Dewey was on the other side of Louie, throwing hits and doing his best to help.

But these people were so much  _ bigger _ than them, and they were outnumbered, too. Huey and Dewey were nothing but a minor inconvenience to them, and before long, they’d successfully dragged Louie from the cage, the other two still locked inside.

“What are you doing?” Huey asked, growing desperate. 

“Hey, we can talk this out, can’t we?” Louie attempted, grunting as he was practically manhandled. “Stop  _ dragging _ me!”

His struggling hardly deterred them, and he was forced over to an area of the room filled with  _ weird _ machinery. There were computers, what looked like a hospital bed, and, most notably, this giant machine that had two very thick metal plates, sitting vertically from each other.

It took two of the people to hold Louie down once they’d all but thrown him on the gurney-type-thing. 

“Come on, I’m sure you have better things to do than — hey!” Louie cried, helpless as his arms were strapped down.

  
The machine from before, the big one, was brought to life, and Huey’s stomach began twisting in knots. 

“What are you doing?” he asked again, pushing against the glass like it would suddenly give way if he just didn’t stop trying. 

The other people were still just taking notes like they had nothing better to be doing.

Louie’s leg, his left one, was forcefully placed between the two metal plates, and just when Huey understood and a cold horror settled over him, the gap between the plates began to close.

“Oh my god!” Dewey shouted at the same time as Louie gave a pained cry, the plates meeting on either side of his leg.

Louie grit his teeth, grimacing in pain.

“Increasing pressure,” someone mumbled, and though it didn’t  _ look _ like the plates had moved, Louie’s panic made it clear what was happening.

Dewey and Huey threw themselves against the glass with a renewed vigor, banging against it. “Stop it!” Dewey said, bashing his body against the wall.

“Do you feel anything?” one of the scientists asked.

“ _Excuse_ _me?_ ”

“In your leg,” she clarified.

“I — no? My  _ brother _ is the one you’re hurting, and if you don’t  _ stop it _ right now, you’ll regret it!” Huey shouted, slamming against the glass yet again.

“Increase pressure,” the woman instructed.

At Louie’s pained scream, the other two grew frantic. “Take me instead!” Dewey insisted. “Just stop hurting him! Take  _ me _ !  _ Please _ !”

The otherwise unoccupied people were furiously scribbling down notes like it was the most interesting thing in the world.

“Oh god,” Louie was saying, repeating it over and over again like a prayer. Maybe it was. “If — if you stop, and let us go, we can get you money. I’m talking thousands — millions! Whatever you want, okay? Just —  _ gah! _ Please!” he begged, voice strained with cries he was struggling to hold back.

“Do you  _ feel  _ anything?” one of the others repeated. 

“Let him  _ go _ !” Dewey demanded.

One of the men let out an angry, throaty sort of sound something akin to a growl. “ _ Increasing pressure _ ,” he said, and though the boys couldn’t see his face, they knew he was glaring. It was easy to hear, with a tone like that.

Louie screamed so loud it made Huey’s ears ring, followed by a noise that was somehow even louder. Somehow even  _ worse _ . A horrible  _ crack _ resonated through the air, and as a screeched sob tore itself from Louie’s throat, Dewey and Huey were right back to screaming, too.

They were yelling so much that even Huey was having trouble differentiating between himself and Dewey’s words, but he didn’t care. All that mattered was what they’d done to Louie. All that mattered was that somehow, they needed to get them to  _ stop _ .

Wordlessly, the scientists began resetting the machine so that Louie’s leg was released, and he was unstrapped from the gurney.

Something that might have been hope blossomed in Huey’s chest. When they put Louie back in,  _ he _ could get out. And he would make them regret everything they’d just done.

But they didn’t bring him back to the cage. Instead, they released him, watching as he collapsed to the floor.

“Get up.”

“I can’t,” Louie sobbed.

They roughly dragged him to his feet. “Walk.”

“W-walk?” he sniffled, confused.

“Walk back and forth along this area.”

Louie whimpered, taking a shaky step forward. He wailed at the pain, but took another step anyway, dragging his broken leg behind him in a limp.

Back and forth. They wouldn’t let him stop no matter how much any of them cried or begged. Louie mostly just cried. Like he didn’t think it was worth it to argue.

They asked Huey and Dewey if they felt anything again. Huey, despite the faint gross feeling in his own leg, just glared at them. He didn’t know  _ what _ they were talking about, but everyone felt wrong and twisted when watching other people get injured. Especially when it was his  _ brother _ , who he was supposed to  _ protect _ . He wasn’t supposed to let anything bad happen to him, and yet… 

“Fuck you!” Dewey spat, and for once, Huey wasn’t about to lecture him about language.

Louie finally collapsed with a broken cry, gripping his leg. “I can’t,” he said through tears, “It  _ hurts _ , I can’t…”

Huey had never seen Louie so… openly distraught. Then again, he’d also never seen Louie tortured by evil scientists, so.

One of the scientists approached Louie calmly, patting him on the head in a way that seemed like it was meant to be fond. Louie flinched away.

They pulled a lollipop from the pocket of their lab coat, pressing it into Louie’s hand. “For good behavior,” they said. Huey shuddered in disgust.

Two more of the scientists came over and finally,  _ finally _ all but dragged him back into the cage. The second he was released, he collapsed on the floor, Huey and Dewey by his side in an instant.

  
The door closed before Huey could lunge at them.

“It hurts,” Louie admitted, curling against his brothers weakly. “It hurts so much.”

“I know,” Huey said, running his hands through Louie’s hair helplessly. “We’re… we’re gonna be okay. Uncle Donald will come for us. And Uncle Scrooge, and mom, too. I bet they’ll be here within an hour.”

Louie screwed his eyes shut tight, nodding. Huey and Dewey shared a nervous look. It had already  _ been _ hours. Where was their family? Shouldn’t they have been saved by now? What was  _ taking  _ them so long?

“Test #1 was a failure,” one of the scientists was saying. “However, Subject 3 was much more cooperative than expected. Test #2 will commence tomorrow.”

**Author's Note:**

> As always, comments are super appreciated!   
> Come find me on tumblr at ninja-go-to-therapy for sneak peeks and more!


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